Dear Mother and Sisters, when Mother asked me to prepare a
talk on The Dead Sea Scrolls I did not anticipate any difficulty but it has not
been as easy as I expected. In fact it took me some time to decide how all
embracing the talk should be. If I were to spend time talking about the many
differing ideas which the ‘experts’ have regarding who wrote the Scrolls or if I
were to spend time talking about the arguing which took place regarding who
should own the scrolls and who should have the job of interpreting them then we
could be here for many hours. So rather then become involved with such
archaeological politics I have decided to concentrate on the basic story, one
which I find convincing and which I came to understand on my three visits to the
Qumran site and the caves of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Each of my three Holy-Land
pilgrimages was led by Brother Dennis Robert, a De La Salle Brother, who had
been to the Holy Land over one hundred times. He was extremely knowledgeable
which makes me confident to relate things as he explained them.

I must point out that this first part of my talk is almost
all pure plagiarism. I’m copying from a book on The Dead Sea Scrolls. I couldn’t
improve on it so I may as well tell you what someone else has written.

In late 1946 or early 1947 a young Bedouin shepherd
stumbled across something extraordinary while scrambling among the rocky cliffs
that rise just behind a terrace of land on which stood a group of ancient ruins,
known as Qumran, by the shores of the Dead Sea.

As the story goes, he was looking for a stray goat when he
noticed a couple of openings high up in the rocks. He peered down into the
darkness but could see nothing, so he threw in some stones. Then, as they
crashed down inside, he heard the sound of breaking pottery. As the day was
coming to an end, he had his two cousins herded the rest of the flock down from
the escarpment, intending to return for a closer look at the cave to discover
whether they had found anything valuable.

A day or so later one of the cousins woke early and climbed
back up to the site. He cleared some rocks away and wriggled down into the cave.
Inside he found a number of ancient pottery jars, most of which were empty
although a few contained musty old scrolls of parchment wrapped in cloth which,
over the next few days, he and his companions removed. Being poor illiterate
shepherds they must have been disappointed for they had not found anything that
they could recognize as valuable.

Apparently the scrolls were taken back to the shepherd’s
Bedouin camp and left dangling from a tent pole of no great interest to anybody.
It was even rumoured that some of the parchment was used for kindling cooking
fires – every archaeologist’s nightmare. By the time the Bedouin’s thought of
trying to sell them they were left with just seven crumbling scrolls.

Eventually the two older cousins took the scrolls to nearby
Bethlehem. Nobody they spoke to had any idea what these battered bits of
parchment could be and probably cared even less. Somebody suggested taking them
to a local cobbler, who might give them a few pence and use them for shoe
repairs. So off they went to the cobbler who also happened to be a part-time
antique dealer. He was a bit more sophisticated than his Bedouin clients and
realised that the scrolls might be worth something: He paid the two Bedouins £5
and also agreed to become their agent for any subsequent finds. As it would turn
out £5 was an extremely small payment but to the Bedouins it would have been a
massive amount of money and they no doubt went away very happy and with the
enticement of finding more.

The cobbler was a Syrian Orthodox Christian and feeling
that these parchments may be valuable he mentioned them to the Metropolitan of
St. Mark’s Syrian Church in Jerusalem. After various delays amid fears for the
authenticity of the items on offer, the Metropolitan bought the scrolls for £24.

By now word had got around and other Bedouins were
investigating the inside of caves. So another well-respected archaeologist who
worked at the New Hebrew University in Jerusalem had been offered two fairly
complete ancient scrolls and some fragments by another antique dealer. He
immediately realised with astonishment that the scrolls were not only authentic
but truly ancient, dating anytime from the Second Temple period (about 430 BC).
He came by this belief due to the similarity of the script to inscriptions on
graves which he had studied. This was a discovery of immense importance, for
nothing similar had ever been found before – indeed, in the harsh dry climate it
was assumed that manuscripts from this period could not possibly have survived.
One can well imagine his hand, trembling with excitement as he examined the
scrolls. He immediately purchased them and a few months later obtained a further
scroll. Amongst the items he had purchased was a complete copy of the book of
Isaiah.

A total of eleven caves were excavated one containing the
remains of 566 scrolls. Other caves had far fewer scrolls and some had only
remnants. A few of the caves had previously been troglodyte (cave dwellers)
homes. It is thought that some of the caves had been previously been visited
probably by Bedouins as far back as the 1920’s. They would have been harvesting
bat droppings to use as fertilizer. In desert conditions every bit of help is
need to get anything to grow. While they were in the caves they would have seen
the scrolls and not realising their value would have taken them for covering
tents, making sandals or even, horror of horrors, lighting fires. It is
fortunate that they only discovered one or two of the caves.

Before we proceed to find out more about the scrolls and
how they were interpreted we should learn about who wrote them. They were known
as the Essenes although they never used that name themselves. They called
themselves ‘The Community’. No-one knows where the word ‘Essenes’ comes from.
There are many theories as to how that name came into being. We could easily
spend a quarter of an hour delving into it but I suggest that we move on to more
interesting matters. Who were the Essenes and how had they come to take up a
life of writing the scrolls? The best explanation is that in about 430 BC, after
the Israelites had been in exile for seventy years, Cyrus the King of Persia
issued a proclamation that they should return to their country and rebuild their
temple. In the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah we read about the return and
rebuilding. Seventy years is a long time and during that time some of the form
of Temple worship had been misinterpreted and those who wanted to return to the
original pure form of worship found that unacceptable. We can clearly understand
this by looking at what is happening today in our church. It is only forty-five
years since the Second Vatican Council which led to the arguments about the
Latin Mass versus the Mass in the vernacular. Pope Benedict XVI has hopefully
brought those arguments to an end by officially reinstating the Latin Mass. Yet
an elderly retired priest living in our Parish has had to go on a refresher
course so that he can Offer Mass in Latin. If that can happen in forty-five
years think what it must have been like in seventy years.

Those who were dissatisfied by the Temple Worship came from
all sides of Jewish life; The Sadducees, The Pharisees, The Scribes and the
Zealots. It is likely that they commenced by forming small groups in the places
where they lived but eventually they came together and formed a community. It
helps us to understand how that happened if we think of how Fountains Abbey
started. Some Benedictine monks in the Abbey of St Mary’s York left their abbey
as they wanted a more harsh discipline. They were given land at Fountains and
not only built the beautiful Abbey but eventually were accepted into the
Cistercian Order. So we had history repeating itself.

The Essenes moved to a plateau near the Dead Sea now know
as Qumran. At that time the site would be a solitary place where they could live
as a quiet and separate community. It is assumed that having nothing else to
occupy themselves they started to copy the scriptures and other tracts which
interested them.

After the scrolls had been discovered the archaeologists
got to work uncovering the site. Previously visitors had seen the ancient
remains and assumed it was some kind of Israelite fortress but what the
archaeologists discovered was what we now accept as buildings of a monastic type
community. It was ascertained that the monastic buildings were not the first use
of the site but that there had been activity there from as far back at the first
Temple in 950 B.C. and following on from the Essenes the site had probably been
used by the Romans defending the Eastern edge of their territory.

The archaeologists discovered workshops, a water system, a
kitchen and pantry containing more than a thousand eating–bowls in tumbled
stacks, jars, jugs, neatly arranged into sets of a dozen, a large hall which may
have served as a refectory, a scriptorium where the scrolls would have been
written including three inkwells, a tannery, a library and several workshops
including a kiln and a pottery. There was a split in the fabric of the buildings
and that was thought to have been caused by an earthquake in 31 B.C. Cleanliness
was a major factor in the Community and so there were several bathing areas.
Brother Dennis Robert said that when writing the scrolls they would leave a
blank space where the word ‘God’ should have been written. Then, when the scroll
was complete, they would have a ritual bath before returning to the scroll and
adding the word ‘God’.

Anyone wanting to join the Community was accepted with a
one-year period of probation before they were admitted to ritual ablutions that
formed a key element of the Essene practice. Candidates were given a white robe
to wear. If the probation year was passed satisfactorily, a further two years of
initiation followed, culminating in a ceremony in which an oath of fidelity was
taken. Then the initiate was finally allowed to participate in the fellowship
that ate meals together. Those virtually sacramental meals , open to initiates,
were prepared by priests following strict purity laws. The meals were eaten
twice daily followed by prayers. After the oath of fidelity had been accepted
any serious transgression of the rules resulted in permanent expulsion after
judgement by a court.

The monastic comparison continues in that the Essenes held
all their property in common. New members were required to hand over all their
property and earnings to the superiors. To provide for their daily needs, a
steward issued food and clothing as required as well as organizing the care of
the sick and the elderly. From what can be gleaned from the ancient writings, we
also know that they were extremely frugal in their daily lifestyle – their diet
was quite Spartan and they did not wear new clothes until the old ones had worn
out. Apart from their writings the main occupation of the Essenes was
agriculture, whilst commerce and the manufacture of weapons were strictly
forbidden.

We tend to think that all the scrolls discovered at Qumran
were Biblical but in fact only 40% of the findings were Biblical or with a
Biblical theme. The other 60% covered a variety of themes. The 40% which had a
Biblical content covered all the books of the Old Testament except for Malachi,
Esther and Maccabees the reason being that those books were not in existence
when the scrolls were written. In some of the writings the writers had taken
some liberties with the truth of the Bible as we know it. As an example; in some
of the writings they had not included the story of Jacob’s lie to his father
that he was Esau. Hence they were attempting to get rid of what we might term
‘the offensive sections’ in the Bible.

The 60% of no-biblical scrolls included The Temple Scroll.
This was a well preserved scroll some 27 feet in length. It imagined the
construction and regulation of a vast ideal temple and the sacrifices to be
performed there. Its authors viewed it as a supplement or addition to the first
five books of the Old Testament.

Many of the non-Biblical scrolls were connected to the
Jewish religious laws. Some dealt with everyday matters that would have been of
interest to the ordinary pious Jew of the period, while others seem to relate
more to the duties and concerns of the priests serving in the Temple in
Jerusalem. At that time there were two calendars operating The Sadducees
favoured the Solar Calendar whereas the Pharisees favoured the Lunar Calendar.
(That answers the question as to how Jesus held the Passover on the Thursday
when the next day was also the Passover. Jesus was following the Pharisees lunar
calendar whereas the next day was the Passover for the Sadducees.) The writers
of the scrolls favoured the Sadducees solar calendar and in the scroll writings
they castigate their opponents for using the wrong calendar.

Another non biblical scroll was the ‘Songs of the Sabbath
Sacrifice’ also called the ‘Angelic Liturgy’ Some copies of this scroll were
even discovered by archaeologists at Massada where the epic final battle took
place when the Jews made their last stand and committed mass-suicide rather than
be captured by the Romans.

Then there was a scroll called ‘The Rule of the Community’
which is the name they called themselves. Cave One contained several sets of
rules governing the Community. One of them was reasonably well preserved. Other
copies were found in Caves four and five so they obviously took these rules very
seriously and wanted to make sure that whatever problems might overtake them the
rules would have a chance of being saved.

There was just one scroll which was written on copper. It
contained details of the whereabouts of hidden treasure. It is assumed that this
copper scroll was smuggled out of Jerusalem as it was under attack. It gave
locations of where sixty-four items of precious metals and Temple artefacts are
hidden. Sadly none of the locations have been discovered and no hidden treasure
has come to light.

The Suez Crisis in 1956 led to problems which not only
slowed down the work of interpretation of the scrolls but led to their
deterioration. For safety the scrolls were transferred from Jerusalem to Bank
vaults in the Jordanian Capital of Amman. When they were returned a year later
they had deteriorated due to the inappropriate storage conditions. Some of the
smaller fragments had mildew on them. For a safety some of the scrolls were
removed to the U.S.A. We can imagine our Jewish Brethren being very unhappy that
their historical documents had been taken out of the country. Happily they were
eventually returned.

Problems led to a misunderstandings and rumours. What had
happened was that the work of interpreting the scrolls had been handed entirely
to Christians which seems totally unreasonable when we consider that the
discoveries had taken place on Jewish soil and were all related to the Old
Testament. Initially the scrolls were passed to four scholars who were Catholic
priest. That led to libellous comments that, on behalf of the Catholic Church,
the priests would try to hide anything controversial about the Roman Catholic
church. In an attempt to counter the criticism the team was increased by six
young but inexperienced members but even these were all Christian, three
Catholic and three Anglican. So the rumours continued. Even after the six day
war in 1967 when the Jews had taken over the whole of Jerusalem the
investigation of the scrolls was still in Christian hands and it was not until
1991 that the whole project was placed in the hands of a Jewish Professor.

We have to consider how the age of the scrolls was
understood. It was done by carbon dating. I am not knowledgeable in this area of
science but as I understand it everything is made of atoms and over a period of
time they deteriorate. By testing their deteriorating it is possible to estimate
a possible age. There are some complications because the carbon dating would
show the age of the goat or sheep skins when the animals were killed but they
could have had several years of preparation before they were ready for use a
scrolls.

Then there is what is known as palaeography; a word I
haven’t previously come across. It is the study of ancient writings but more
than that because, looking at two documents, it attempts to determine whether
they were written at the same time or at different times maybe many years apart.
How does it do that?

If I were to attempt to speak English as it was spoken in
medieval times it would sound very different from the way we speak today. But in
a much shorter time limit

if we go back only thirty years from now words like Web
Site – Google – Internet - Broadband and Dot Com were unknown. Now they are in
every day use. The scrolls were written during a period of about 320 years from
250 BC to 70 AD and by changes in the words used those interpreting the writings
were able to determine the period in which they were written. I suspect this is
referring to the 60% of non-biblical scrolls rather than the Biblical ones.

Those interpreting the scrolls were able to determine
scrolls from different caves which may have been written by the same person.
Very simply this was done by comparing the writing much as we would recognise
each others had writing.

By combining the palaeography with the carbon dating and
the different hand writing the experts came to an understanding of who wrote
what and when.

So the experts whose work it was to interpret the scrolls
had an immense task ahead of them. Few of the scrolls were complete works of
Biblical books. Most of what they had to work with were thousands of pieces
which had disintegrated during their time in the caves or pieces which had
broken off from the main scrolls which the Bedouin had recovered from the caves.
The Bedouin were not practiced in making such recovery and they would not have
thought to pick up the scraps which fell away from the scrolls. Later, when the
caves were inspected by archaeologists, the scraps were discovered and then had
to be matched to the scrolls to which they belonged. A massive jigsaw puzzle
which would be beyond the expertise of any except those who knew the probable
value of what they might discover. Imagine a jigsaw having 50,000 pieces which
need to be put together and not only do they not belong to the same jigsaw but
to maybe fifty different jigsaws and few of the jigsaws has the full set of
pieces. What dedication, determination and patience it must have
required!

In researching the Dead Sea Scrolls some of the reference
books made mention of John the Baptist and Jesus although none of the scrolls
mention their names. It is possible (just possible) that John’s life in the
desert prior to his mission of baptising could have brought him in contact with
the Essenes. John’s ascetic life would have endeared him to them. But once he
left the desert to preach his message of

‘the voice of one
crying in the wilderness,

Make straight the way
of the Lord.’

he would not have been regarded as a member of the
Community.

Regarding Jesus it is true to say that whilst the Qumran
Community was not on the shortest route from Jerusalem to Jericho it would only
have taken a slightly longer route to pass by the Essenes Monastery. Did Jesus
ever go there? Jesus way of life did not accord with the Essenes Community so
the only possibility is if Jesus called as he was passing by. They would
certainly have agreed with Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees, Sadducees and
Priests for their hypocrisy. But they would not have agreed with Jesus who told
us to ‘love your enemies’. In their ‘Community Scroll’ the Essenes were
repeatedly encouraged to ‘hate, curse and pray for the destruction of their
enemies’. A complete contradiction to the teaching of Jesus.

We are left with the question ‘did the scrolls offer any
different interpretation to the Scriptures?’ From all that I have read the
answer is ‘No’. If any differences had been found we would have learned of them
very quickly. Our belief is that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God and
what the Dead Sea Scrolls have done is to show that our belief is true.

Finally we ask the question; ‘why were the scrolls left in
the caves’. There are two possible reasons. Firstly when a scroll was completed
it would need storing and the caves provided a perfect place; probably even more
perfect than the Essense could have imagined when we consider the length of time
the scrolls survived. The second sad reason is that the scrolls would have been
hidden away from their enemies the Romans who, soon after the destruction of the
Temple in 70 AD, would have attacked the Essenes and totally annihilated them.